Maritime Monday 224: Little Photoshop of Horrors

Flea Market Find:From Polliwog to Shellback in 1926 (from Riveted; A Vintage Clothing blog) While digging in a suitcase packed with old Navy uniforms, my attention was caught by a piece of black fabric. It happened to be a hand made Jolly Roger flag. Next to it was an old parchment King Neptune’s diploma. I knew right away what it was, the remnants of a classic Navy tradition held when crossing the equator…

AP – Workers scoop up oil from a spill in the sea near Dalian, China on July 18, 2010.

China Fights the World’s Other Huge Oil Spill (timeline)

The estimated size of an oil spill off China’s northeast coast had doubled by Wednesday, as workers raced against the clock to contain a growing environmental disaster.

Friday, July 16: At approximately 6:20 p.m. local time, an explosion in a pipeline near Dalian Xingang Harbor set off a secondary explosion in a smaller pipeline. The pipelines connected tankers in the harbor with storage containers on land, according to Xinhua. The pipes were owned by China National Petroleum Corp., the country’s largest oil and gas producer and supplier.

Saturday, July 17: After 15 hours, firefighters extinguished the blaze.

Sunday, July 18: Oil was stopped from spilling into the sea with the closing of a valve. Officials began investigating the accident.

Heavy fuel oil was spotted near the moored bulk carrier Johannes Wulff at the coal berths at the mouth of the Brisbane River on Friday. more »

BP Oil Rig Alarm Was Not Fully Turned On, Worker Says

The emergency alarm on the Deepwater Horizon was not fully activated on the day the oil rig caught fire and exploded, triggering the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a rig worker on Friday told a government panel investigating the accident.

NY Times – The worker, Mike Williams, chief electronics technician aboard the Transocean rig, said the general safety alarm was habitually set to “inhibited” to avoid waking up the crew with late-night sirens.

“They did not want people woke up at 3 a.m. from false alarms,” Mr. Williams told the federal panel of investigators in this New Orleans suburb. Consequently, the alarm did not sound during the emergency, leaving workers to relay information through the loudspeaker system.

The first altered image to surface was of a BP command centre, showing three men monitoring 10 screens of underwater activity – except in the original at least three of the screens appeared to be inactive. Enter some Photoshop wizardry. Using Photoshop, the BP staffer made it appear as if all 10 screens were active (if only showing reformatted versions of another screen).

Help BP Learn How to Use Photoshop

WIRED – Apparently BP can no longer afford to employ people with even remotely reasonable Photoshop skills. As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, the company has admitted to (poorly) altering photos that were released to the public. Gizmodo and Americablog do a great job of tearing down these images and showing just how bad the Photo-shopping is.

BP claims these truly pathetic Photoshop jobs are the work of a contract photographer. It’s hard to know what to believe about this, but if there really is a photographer who took it upon himself to mess with these images, then this individual should be ashamed. We just can’t decide which is more shameful, the complete lack of ethics or the complete lack of Photoshop skill.

Abandoned Naval Armament Test Station in Makhachkala

ENGLISH RUSSIA – This test station for naval armament was commissioned in 1939, and is located 2.7 km away from the shore. It has been abandoned for a long time. Its building has been heavily damaged by waves of the nasty Caspian Sea. The watch tower of the station stands 42 m above sea level and, in stormy weather, foamy waves can easily reach its top.

The entire underwater part of the gigantic construction, called “Massive”, was built on the shore in the foundation pit with a capacity of 530,000 cubic meters. Sometimes they even dug by hand, but more often dredgers were used.

At Least It Wasn’t Scurvy – Crew of Brig Niagara Struck Down by Salmonella

Last week, twenty six of forty two crew members on the Brig Niagara were sickened by salmonella, forcing the ship to cut short a visit to a tall ships festival in Cleveland.

Fortunately, the crew is reported to have recovered, and the Niagaraset sail again Monday for Duluth, Minn. The Niagara is a replica of the ship that Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry used to defeat the British at the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812.

BC Ferry Passengers Settle Suit Over Queen of North Sinking

In the past, BC Ferries admitted it was liable for the March 2006 accident when the ferry ran aground off the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Some 99 people were forced to evacuate. Two passengers — Shirley Rosette and Gerald Foisy — went missing and were later declared dead.

The Transportation Safety Board released a report in 2008 stating that navigation officer Karl Lilgert and another BC Ferries employee at the helm failed to make a crucial course correction, which allowed the ferry to run aground. Lilgert was charged with criminal negligence causing death and has pleaded not guilty. A third officer, who was on lunch break, was fired, along with the two crew members on the bridge that night.

Bitter End: Rescue at Matia Island

Our buddy Captain Richard has had a busy weekend.

The vhf crackled to life at 05:30; a vessel was aground on Matia Island. I got Towline underway within a few minutes and picked up Capt. Fritz at Mineral Point. Deteriorating seas slowed our speed of advance to about 12 knots in President’s Channel.

A 1979 26â€² Bayliner had gone aground and was beating against a lee shore. It’s mooring lines had chafed through in 20+ kts of wind. Aboard were two adults and four children.

Charlotte Maersk Update: Fire Finally Out After Eleven Days

Old Salt Blog – The fire on the Charlotte Maersk, which started July 7th, was finally extinguished last Sunday after 11 days of firefighting.

The fire involving 150 containers on board the Charlotte Maersk has finally been extinguished, 11 days after the boxes caught alight. Maersk Line said the blaze, which started on 7 July at around 9pm local time, close to Port Klang, Malaysia, was finally extinguished on Sunday. The 8,200teu vessel is now berthed at Tanjung Palepas, Malaysia, and containers are being unloaded.

NEW ORLEANS – Capt. Roger Laferriere, Louisiana Incident Commander for the Deepwater Horizon Response, has returned to California to resume his role as Commander of Sector Los Angeles/Long Beach after a 60-day deployment. Capt. James Hanzalik, the 8th District Chief of Response has assumed the role of Incident Commander.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Four men appeared in court facing manslaughter charges after the sinking of a Tongan ferry that killed 74 people last year. A royal commission of inquiry blamed the Aug. 5, 2009, sinking of the Princess Ashika on a decision to send an unseaworthy vessel to sea packed with passengers.

There were 128 people on board when the ferry overturned in stormy waters about 55 miles (86 kilometres) northeast of the capital, Nuku’alofa. Seventy-four people died, making it the South Pacific nation’s worst maritime disaster.

DOT to Turn Underused Waterways Into Marine Highways

WIRED – According to MARAD Administrator Dave Matsuda, the United States is catching up with the rest of the world when it comes to marine highways. Also known as short sea shipping, coastal trade or coastal shipping, the rivers and seas of Europe and Asia are filled with small container vessels carrying cargo within a continent.

“This is an idea that’s been around for awhile,” Matsuda said. “The Europeans do it, and other folks do it. For about 10 years now people have been kicking the idea around in the maritime community. It’s to the point that it’s been joked about that the Marine Highway conference has become a cottage industry.”

Doubts Begin to Surface on North Korea’s Role in Sinking of Cheonan

The Los Angeles Times – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton calls the evidence "overwhelming" that the Cheonan, a South Korean warship that sank in March, was hit by a North Korean torpedo. Vice President Joe Biden has cited the South Korean-led panel investigating the sinking as a model of transparency. But challenges to the official version of events are coming from an unlikely place — within South Korea itself.

The critics, mostly but not all from the opposition, say it is unlikely that the impoverished North Korean regime could have pulled off a perfectly executed hit against a superior military power, sneaking a submarine into the area and slipping away without detection. They also wonder whether the evidence of a torpedo attack was misinterpreted, or even fabricated.

Exodus of Deepwater Rigs from GOM Now Underway

MARINELOG – Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (NYSE:DO) yesterday announced that it has entered into a term contract ending June 30, 2011, plus option, with Burullus Gas Company S.A.E. that will immediately mobilize the Ocean Endeavor from the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to Egypt.

Diamond Offshore President and CEO, Larry Dickerson, noted, "With new contracting severely restricted in the GOM as a result of the uncertainties surrounding the offshore drilling moratorium, we are actively seeking international opportunities to keep our rigs fully employed. This new contract for the Endeavor will help us preserve backlog, and will allow the previous operator of the rig to satisfy its contractual obligations which extended until June 30, 2011. We greatly regret the loss of U.S. jobs that will result from this rig relocation."

First JHSV to be Delivered to Army in 2012

Aviation Week – The future U.S. Army Vessel (USAV) Spearhead is expected to be delivered to the Army’s 7th Sustainment Brigade in 2012. The second ship of the Joint High Speed Vessel program, the future USNS Vigilant, will be delivered to the Navy the following year.

The commercially designed, non-combatant vessel is the result of recent Pentagon-ordered consolidation of the Army Theater Support Vessel and the Navy High Speed Connector. Consequently, the consolidated program was able to hammer out a military design within four years of starting the rival efforts, and now military officials are touting faster shipbuilding. With the Pentagon’s consolidation, Austal constructed a “modular manufacturing facility” in November 2009 to accelerate its capacity fivefold while cutting construction time.

First Lady Michelle Obama christens the third U.S. Coast Guard National Security cutter Stratton (WMSL 752) Friday, July 23, 2010, during a ceremony on Singing River Island just south of the Northrop Grumman Shipyard in Pascagoula, MS. First Lady Michelle Obama is the ship’s sponsor. (Press-Register/John David Mercer)

First Lady Christens New Cutter

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — First lady Michelle Obama christened National Security Cutter Stratton this morning, breaking a champagne bottle on the second swing before 3,000 people at Northrop Grumman’s shipyard. The first lady thanked the shipbuilders for their hard work and also thanked the Coast Guard for its response to the oil spill and other duties.

Heerema Deep Water Construction Vessel

Dynamic Positioning News – Heerema Marine Contractors (HMC) today announced the signing of a letter of intent with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co., Ltd., Korea (DSME), for the building of a new Deep Water Construction Vessel. The New-build will be an investment of US$ 600-700 million.

Largest French Containership Christened

CMA CGM’s flagship Christophe Colomb, the world’s largest French-flagged containership at 13,800TEU, was christened on July 12 in Le Havre, France.

Baird Maritime – The first of a series of eight vessels named after great explorers, this giant of the seas is the largest container-ship ever to sail under the French flag.

The double-hulled vessel has a length of 365 metres, a beam of 51 metres and a range of 45,000 kilometres, and is fitted with an electronic injection engine, which significantly reduces bunker fuel and oil consumption.

Map Illustrates Extent of World’s Marine Dead Zones

A new NASA map illustrates the significant expansion of the world’s marine dead zones, deepwater regions where dissolved oxygen is so low marine species cannot survive.

Many of these dead zones occur off densely populated coastlines, particularly along the eastern United States and in Northern Europe. Scientists produced the map using data from satellites that can detect high concentrations of particulate matter, an indicator of overly fertile waters that can create dead zones.

Maritime Compass: Voyage Accounts

The Smithsonian’s SIRIS Blog featured excerpts from a newly donated voyage account this past Sunday. The post features Benjamin S. Buckley’s diary entries concerning the 4th of July celebrations aboard the Capitol during the voyage from Boston to San Francisco via Cape Horn in 1849. Four pages of the diary are reproduced on the blog, and readers can click through to enlarged versions that will zoom one step further for easy reading.

Massive Water Shipment Planned from Alaskan Town to India

This will be the world’s first large-volume exports of water via tanker: companies have tried unsuccessfully for more than two decades to break open the bulk water export market.

Yale Environment 360 – A Texas company has announced that it is moving forward with a plan to ship 2.9 billion to 9 billion gallons of water a year from the small Alaskan town of Sitka to the west coast of India. If the company, S2C Global Systems, succeeds in carrying out the shipments, the deal would represent the world’s first regular, bulk exports of water via tanker. Depending on how much water it ships to India, the city of Sitka could earn $26 million to $90 million annually from the controversial deal.

New Bedford Whaling Museum – Painted in 1878 and measuring 1,275 feet in length, this panorama begins with a whaler leaving New Bedford heading to sea, meeting ships homeward bound, scenes of the Azores and Cape Verde, the coast of South America, round Cape Horn toward the Pacific Islands with scenes of lowering boats, taking whales, cutting in and all aspects of the whaling voyage. Painted by Benjamin Russell and Caleb Pierce Purrington, the panorama was to be rolled across a stage with narration and music.

New Hope for Seasickness Prevention

Motion sickness, to quote Dr. Patricia S. Cowings, of NASA’s Ames Research Center, “won’t kill you — you just wish it would.”

OceanLines – She and a colleague have discovered that a regimen of biofeedback training is more effective than even the powerful anti-nausea drugs given to NASA astronauts — some 50 percent of whom suffer from airsickness during spaceflight. An MSNBC blog piece by Chris Tachibana cites the publication of this new research by Cowings and Dr. William B. Toscano in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

NOAA Researchers Set Sail for Underwater Volcano Off Cali Coast

Less than 100 miles from Santa Cruz, the Davidson Seamount remains one of the least understood and most enigmatic places off the California coast.

The underwater volcano, rising from a depth of 11,000 feet below the ocean surface, is host to an exotic world of ancient corals, colorful sponges, red crabs and rare marine creatures, many yet to be classified by science. While technology has recently helped researchers win a glimpse of this deep-sea life, little is known about the larger mammals and birds that ply the surrounding waters.

"There may be a separate, offshore population of (sperm) whales here," said Andrew DeVogelaere, the director of research for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. "We’ve done work at great depths with our remotely operated vehicles, but there’s a lot less information about what exactly lives near the surface."

New GoM Spill Containment System; The Technology – Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell are accelerating the engineering, construction and deployment of equipment designed to improve capabilities to contain a potential future underwater blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. Click here to see an overview »

MarineLog – After the Exxon Valdez incident, the oil majors created the Marine Spill Response Corporation. Today, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell announced a plan to build and deploy a rapid response system that will be available to capture and contain oil in the event of a potential future underwater well blowout in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

The four will form a non-profit organization, the Marine Well Containment Company, to operate and maintain the system. Though BP is very noticeably not among the sponsors, the four say that "other companies will be invited and encouraged to participate in this organization."

The companies say the new system will be flexible, adaptable and able to begin mobilization within 24 hours and can be used on a wide range of well designs and equipment, oil and natural gas flow rates and weather conditions. The new system will be engineered to be used in deepwater depths up to 10,000 feet and have initial capacity to contain 100,000 barrels per day with potential for expansion.

Scientists to Thad Allen: Stop Massive Re-Engineering of Gulf Coast

More than two dozen coastal scientists are asking Thad Allen to halt coastal engineering projects that are intended to prevent damage from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Calling the projects ill-conceived and poorly reviewed, the scientists argue in a letter sent this week that the engineering will probably do more harm than good:

“Our concern is that the cumulative, long-term impacts of all these projects are not being examined in any scientific or thoughtful way. As individual projects, we believe that they would fail a reasonable scientific evaluation. As a cumulative re-engineering of the US Gulf coast, they become a major problem.”

Ship Engineer Pleads Guilty in Oil Dumping Found at Port of Tampa

Cargo ship engineer Yavuz Mogultay faces up to six years in federal prison after pleading guilty in a case involving oil dumping.

Mogultay was a second assistant engineer onboard the cargo ship MV Avenue Star when he used bypass hoses to shortcut the vessel’s pollution prevention equipment and discharge oil waste from the engine room, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida. He failed to record the discharges properly, the statement said.

Show Off Your Travels with Scratch Map

My Scratch Map from IWOOT (or I Want One of Those) is made with a top layer of gold foil. Once you visit a country, go ahead and take a coin and scratch off that foil like a lottery ticket to reveal the country underneath. What a fun idea for travel enthusiasts!

The map is currently only available in Europe, but we are hoping all the buzz it’s been generating on the internet might just get it to the US a bit faster. Far more subtle than uploading 45576385 pictures to Facebook.

The Port Authority of Guam said the ship, M.V. Altavia, arrived on Guam on Wednesday night carrying housing units and accessories that were to be used at the Ukudu Workforce Village in Dededo. The workforce village is expected to house up to 18,000 temporary workers.

The Port’s Marketing Administrator Bernadette Meno said customs officers along with the vessel’s agent boarded the ship and gave clearance to the stevedores to go on board and unlock the cargo for offloading. It was then that thousands of the critters were found.

"When our port stevedores began offloading the insulation and beams for the housing units on the docks they discovered that hundreds of large spiders and thousands of small ones were on the cargo and on the ship," Meno said.

Stony Brook to Offer New Master of Arts in Marine Conservation and Policy

Ocean Power Mag – A new master’s program in Marine Conservation and Policy will be offered by Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) beginning with the fall 2010 semester. The 12-month interdisciplinary program is designed to give students a broad base of scientific knowledge about marine ecosystems, enhanced communication skills, and perspective on the economic, legal, and/or policy challenges of marine conservation.

“Our goal is to provide students from a variety of academic backgrounds with an understanding of contemporary marine conservation and policy issues,” said program director Dr. Robert Cerrato. “Graduates of this program should have the advanced training and broad skill-set needed to compete effectively for marine conservation positions that are not research-based.

Tuesday, July 27, is American Victory Day

Governor Charlie Crist has named Tuesday, July 27, as American Victory Recognition Day. In celebration, the American Victory Ship Museum will offer half price admission on Saturday, July 31 for tours of the ship berthed at the Port of Tampa.

FLORIDA – In 1936, President Roosevelt signed legislation that changed the status of merchant mariners to military personnel during wartime. But their service to the nation long predates that legislation. In 1775, the Continental Congress issued Letters of Marque to privateers, authorizing acts by private citizens to secure enemy ships in order to interrupt the British supply chain along the eastern seaboard during the Revolutionary War.

On June 12, 1775, a group of civilians in Maine did just that when facing orders from the British to unload ships or face the consequences. They chose the consequences and subsequently captured a British schooner on behalf of the future United States of America.

Ugly Ships: Favorite Ship Names

On a few occasions in the past I have given my opinion on the strange & funny names (here, here & here or click) given to vessels so I thought it to be time to inform you of some names that I actually like.

Above you see the Happy Buccaneer, not only the first vessel I ever went to sea with but also one of the most impressive & well build vessels I have ever worked on in my career. And I really like the name!

UNESCO Establishes Online Traditional Knowledge Database

Low-Tech Magazine – The freshly launched "International Traditional Knowledge Institute" (ITKI) is an ambitious effort to preserve, restore and promote the re-use of traditional skills and inventions from all over the world. It includes an online encyclopaedia of low-tech know-how, though it will take many years before it is completed.

U.S. Copyright Registry of Vessel Hull Designs

MARITIME COMPASS – I recently stumbled across the U.S. Copyright Office’s Registration of Vessel Hull Designs, and it could be a valuable resource for certain researchers. The Vessel Hull Design Registrations list seems to extend back only about a year, and has a lot of entries that indicate changes to existing designs, so the number of designs in the registry seems very small at this point, but shows a variety of vessel types–inflatable boats, many fishing boats, a racing kayak, sail training craft, even a "pleasure mega yacht."

The certificate of registration as well as any accompanying drawings or photographs are available as Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) files, which are often quite large, but very interesting once downloaded and opened. In this respect, the database resembles Google patents, since the accompanying visual materials are available. (click through for links)

USCGC Escanaba Returns to Homeport

BOSTON – It was a busy and challenging deployment patrolling the waters of the Northwest Atlantic. We conducted Maritime Security Cutter Operations, Living Marine Resource Enforcement, 2 Search and Rescue Cases(one including a 178 nm tow), Fueling at Sea, International Fleet Review , 2 Community Volunteer Projects, 5 Academy Cadet were onboard for the summer training, Remembrance ceremony for the sinking of the first USCGC ESCANABA and .50 Cal, M240 and 76mm Gun shoots.

Where Will All This Oil Be in August?

Slate‘s interactive models of the Deepwater Horizon spill

As government officials continue to nervously monitor the cap on the Deepwater Horizon well, there are still millions of barrels of oil oozing around in the Gulf of Mexico. In order to minimize the damage, scientists, engineers, and government officials need to figure out where that oil is headed. The bad news: Few things on the planet are as unpredictable as the currents in the Gulf of Mexico.

While the spill is constantly being photographed both by satellite and aerial imagery, those pictures are incomplete. Because the source of the spill is so far beneath the waves, a great deal of the oil that’s been spewed has never reached the surface…

World’s First Certified Ice Navigation Training Course

The ship manoeuvring simulator centre of Trondheim, Norway is the first training centre to have its navigation course certified to DNV’s ice navigation standard.

The Motorship – Growth in Arctic operations means the maritime industry needs more seafarers fit for operating in this demanding region. Climate, political and economic changes are facilitating unprecedented access to the region, fuelling great expectations in the shipping, energy and mining sectors.

Certification by DNV means that the SMS course is developed, structured and delivered to a high pedagogical standard, and that the content meets or exceeds the DNV standard of competence for ice navigation. This is the world’s only competence standard available to the maritime industry.

This Week in History: John Augustus Roebling, Engineer & Designer of the Brooklyn Bridge Died of Tetanus on July 22, 1869

At the time of its construction, the bridge was the longest in the world, which alone would have secured the opinion that Roebling was a genius. But the roadbed also had to run high enough to allow for river traffic, with its tall ship masts, to pass below. The height of the two river banks were of no help, being of a naturally low elevation, as opposed to say, a cliff, which would have made the job easier.

Part of what was revolutionary in Roebling’s design was the use of steel wire as opposed to iron. Steel had not yet proven itself as the reliable building material we know it to be. The tension of these steel cables, with the profusion of smaller suspender cables radiating off of them to connect with the bridge floor, not only creates one of the most beloved and notable aesthetic features of the bridge, but also much of its stability.

John Roebling was born in Germany in 1806 and acquired his Civil Engineering degree from the Royal Polytechnic Institute in Berlin, where he also studied under the eminent philosopher Georg Hegel. Roebling came to the United States in 1831, and his projects prior to the Brooklyn Bridge included a railroad bridge over the Niagara River, a railway suspension bridge over the Kentucky River and a suspension bridge over the Ohio River in Cincinnati.

Really, Really Old Man of the Sea

Monkey Fist is a smack-talking, potty mouthed, Yankee hating, Red Sox fan from Portland, Maine. In addition to compiling Maritime Monday, she blogs about nautical history, marine science, art, current events, and coastal New England life on Casco Bay Boaters blog. Submit story ideas, news links, photographs, or items of interest to her at [email protected]. She can also out-belch any man.